Radio România Internațional

Tag: International Court of Justice

  • January 30, 2024 UPDATE

    January 30, 2024 UPDATE

    Tribute. Romanias president, Klaus Iohannis, will be in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday for a ceremony paying tribute to Jaques Delors (1925-2023), former European Commission president over 1985-1995, and for a special meeting of the European Council. The main topic on Thursdays agenda is securing consensus at community level over the main elements in the package set to reform the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027. The most anticipated decisions regard support for Ukraine at all levels, including military assistance via the European Peace Facility, in line with Ukraines specific needs. President Iohannis will firmly argue in favor of Ukraine remaining a top priority on the EU agenda.



    IMF. A special IMF delegation led by Jan Kees Martijn is in Bucharest to conduct a new assessment of the Romanian economy. The mission takes places four months after the previous visit and has an advisory role. The IMF estimates a 2.3% economic growth for Romania this year and a budget deficit of 6% of the GDP. IMF experts have urged Bucharest to implement additional reforms, particularly in the field of taxation. Last autumn, the IMF argued that Romanian authorities should first and foremost seek to eliminate tax exemptions and privileges, implement more efficient VAT-related measures, reform property taxes and encourage the transition to a carbon-neutral economy. Romania has no standing agreement with the IMF at present.



    Trains. On Tuesday, the Romanian Transport Ministry signed a 640-mln-EUR contract for the purchase of 62 new electric short-track trains. The contract was signed with the Polish manufacturer PESA, the same company expected to deliver 20 long-track trains in early 2026, as per the contract signed in December 2023. The trains will enter circulation on the main electric rails or segments that underwent modernization works in western and northwestern Romania. Romania has purchased another 37 electric trains from Alstom, France. On Monday, the Transport Ministry signed a contract with the French company worth 150 mln EUR, for the purchase of 16 new electric engines, with money from the fund of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.



    Aurescu. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis signed, on Tuesday, the decree for the release of Bogdan Aurescu from the position of presidential advisor as of February 1. On November 9, 2023, the UN General Assembly and Security Council elected Bogdan Aurescu as a judge of the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) for a term beginning on February 6, 2024. The ICJ, based in The Hague, is the main judicial body of the UN, being the most prestigious and respected international court. The ICJ was established in 1945, based on the UN Charter. It is made up of 15 permanent judges, elected for a term of 9 years, with the possibility of being re-elected, who meet the conditions required for the exercise of the highest judicial positions in their countries of origin or who are jurists with a recognized competence in the field of international law. The 15 judges are chosen in such a way as to ensure the representation of the main forms of civilization and the main legal systems of the world.



    CPI. The 2023 Corruption Perception Index, published by Transparency International, shows that most countries have reported little to no progress in combating corruption in the public sector. The EU as a whole is either flat or showing signs of decline in this respect. The EU average in the last five years stood at 64. With a score of 46, Romania remains one of the underperformers at EU level, alongside Bulgaria (45) and Hungary (42), which reflects a dysfunctional rule of law. In several countries, including Romania, there are huge gaps between legal provisions and the way they are enforced, the document states. With respect to Romania, Transparency International recommends updating legislation in the field of public integrity, improving organizational and decision-making transparency, including through efficient public consultations and improving access to public information.



    Protest. Farmers protests continue across Europe against the current environmental policies, fuel excises and unfair competition. In France, farmers have blocked the main motorways in and out of Paris and other large cities, warning they wont leave unless their demands are met. President Emmanuel Macron is expected to present a number of proposals on the sidelines of the European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday. Paris has accused some EU partners such as Spain or Italy of “unfair competition”, France Presse and EFE report. Also German farmers blocked on Monday access roads on several segments across the country, particularly in the Hamburg region, disgruntled with the governments decision to scrap diesel tax breaks. Farmers protests have also been reported in Greece and North Macedonia.



    Championship. A total of eight athletes will represent Romania at the World Aquatics Championships hosted by Doha over February 2-18, five in swimming events and three in diving. The big absentee is swimmer David Popovici, European champion in the 100m and 200m freestyle events. Constantin Popovici, the defending high diving world champion, and Cătălin Preda, world vice-champion, will lead the Romanian delegation. (MI)

  • Romania has its first judge at the International Court of Justice

    Romania has its first judge at the International Court of Justice

    The former Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu was elected judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. His appointment was made following a vote held at the UN headquarters in New York, where the current foreign policy advisor of Romanian President Klaus Iohannis outran the Russian Federation’s candidate. Aurescu got 117 votes in the General Assembly, compared to only 77 votes that went to his Russian contender, while in the Security Council he won 9 out of the total 15 votes. Bogdan Aurescu thus becomes the first Romanian to hold such a position.



    President Klaus Iohannis hailed the United Nations decision as a victory for Romania and for the primacy of international law. In a post on the X network, formerly Twitter, President Iohannis pointed out that Aurescus election as judge mirrors Romania’s strong commitment to the rule-based international order. The success at the UN is a victory of the Romanian diplomacy, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, adding that Romania has constantly supported the activity of the International Court of Justice by participating in jurisdictional and consultative procedures and by promoting some initiatives aimed at encouraging states to resort to the jurisdiction of the Court to settle disputes.



    The appointment of Bogdan Aurescu at the International Court of Justice and the absence, for the first time in history, of a Russian representative among the elected judges, has also triggered a reaction from Kyiv. The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that the UN has begun to clean itself from Russian influence and that the world now sees who destroys international law instead of protecting it.



    Bogdan Aurescu is a member of the UN International Law Commission and Co-chair of the Study Group of the International Law on sea-level rise in relation to international law. As of September 2004, he was Romanias Agent before the International Court of Justice, tasked with coordinating the activity of the team that represented Romania in the case against Ukraine for delimiting the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zones of the two countries in the Black Sea. The Court ruling was delivered on February 3, 2009 with Romania winning 9700 km² of continental shelf and exclusive economic zone.




    Between 2010 and 2011 Bogdan Aurescu was chief negotiator of the Romanian-American Agreement on missile defense and the Joint Declaration on the Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century between Romania and the US. For the position of judge at the International Court of Justice, Aurescu was nominated by the Netherlands, Italy, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and New Zealand. Established in 1945, based on the UN Charter, the prestigious Court is made up of 15 permanent judges, elected for a 9-year term on criteria meant to ensure the representation of the main forms of civilization and legal systems in the world. (EE)



  • Romania and International Jurisdiction

    Romania and International Jurisdiction

    The Romanian Senate is taking a final vote on the bill by which Romania accepts the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, the main judicial organ of the United Nations and one of the most prestigious, important and respected international courts, set up 70 years ago. Until last year, 70 states recognized the jurisdiction of the ICJ, and of them 21 are EU member states, now joined by Romania. Addressing the Senate, Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said that this bill shows that Romania makes international law the center of its foreign policy. Bogdan Aurescu won six years ago the Hague prosecution of the dispute between Romania and Ukraine for the Black Sea shelf:



    “In an international environment as difficult as we have today, the peaceful settlement through legal means is an aim that Romania should constantly pursue.”



    The previous foreign minister, Titus Corlatean, who is a Social Democratic senator, recalled that this bill is part of Romania’s constant proportion of peaceful resolution of international disputes:



    “According to international practices and Romania’s specific interests, after the vote we should encourage states in the region who have not yet recognized the obligatory jurisdiction to do so.”



    This initiative taken by the foreign minister, who introduced the bill, was praised by the opposition as well, in the person of Liberal Dorin Dobra:



    “I salute the Romanian foreign policy’s return to its fundamental guidelines, I salute the initiative taken by the Foreign Ministry which is honorable, noble, transparent, as it well should be.”



    The decision made by Bucharest once again confirms the trust that the Romanian side has in the ability of one of the most important international courts to issue equitable solutions, founded in international law. At the same time, this makes access easier to the jurisdiction of the ICJ, especially in relation to some states which themselves have submitted a similar declaration, allowing the peaceful and equitable settlement in possible disputes, in a timely fashion and in compliance with international law.